dolls ドールズ [movie]

love, death and dolls


this is a stylized art film by beat takeshi with the feel of a traditional bunraku theatre story.
it actually opens with a bunraku performance - courier for hell [monzaemon chikamatsu]
and many later scenes refer back to this original point, often in a surreal manner
leaving the viewer open to interpret which parts are meant to be real or not.



there is a slight resemblance in feel to beat's zatoichi, but dolls is a much quieter
slower paced journey. the moment the end credits roll, the same feeling comes as when
you have just woken up after having surreal dreams;
it takes a moment to register you are awake,
then it takes a moment to remember what you just saw,
then you spend the next two days trying to process it and work out if it made any sense.



main cast:
nishijima hidetoshi
kanno miho
takeshige tsutomu
fukada kyoko
mihashi tatsuya
matsubara chieko



the main story features two characters bound together by a red rope
(yes this was the reason i wanted to watch it in the first place as the mere suggestion of
any unmei no akai ito type story line and im hooked)
the regretful man (nishijima) leading the mentally drifting girl (kanno)
to all the places they used to go before she lost her mind.




the two other story arcs feature a man (takeshige) who blinds himself to be able to
meet his pop idol (fukada), and an ageing yakuza boss (mihashi) who returns to meet his
first love (matsubara) who has waitng for him in the park every week
since they parted many years ago.




its a very slow quiet film, with many long shots of people just walking.
it is not the kind of movie you can expect to entertain the masses.
i'd say most people wouldnt really get it.



there is a lot of symbolism and a constantly ambiguous setting and time frame.
this movie is just to be absorbed with they eyes and felt in the heart
not really for being understood with the mind.

and if that wasnt a pretentious statement i dont know what is, but i stand by what i say.



dolls is kind of heartbreaking in a way, it feels sad and lost, but it is also very sweet and
full of love. the cinematography, settings, clothing and score are all beautiful.
and it really does feel as if you are watching a buraku performance at times.



the two lonely wandering main characters (echoed by the bunraku dolls) show more
feeling in their emotionless catatonia than characters in any melodrama,
and their journey is what carries you through this movie
right up until the obscure but very simple symbolic ending, explaining that
death is the end of one road and the closure to one story, not a monster to ends all things.




beat takeshi has stated that where you stand on your idea of death will shape how you
interpret this movie. but reguardless of how deep you wish to look into any meanings
behind the story and imagery, it is beautiful and graceful - worthy of watching with
no preconceptions or expectations.

~

my girlfriend is a gumiho 내 여자친구는 구미호 [series]

ive just spent the last five hours straight watching the end of gumiho
aaaa mashita!


i had heard a lot about gumiho
mixed things from fans and weird anti fans of the various actors in the show
but the two main stars are people i already like
so i had wanted to watch it for a while anyway.



i saw lee seungki recently on some random korean tv show and it reminded me
that i still hadnt watched it gumiho. i dug it out and basically gorged the lot in four sittings.
it was really hard to watch one episode and leave it there.

main cast:
gumiho - shin minah (mawang)
daewoong - lee seungki (chanranhan yusan)
park dongjoo - no minwoo (pasta)



gumiho also features park soojin as (the most irritating untill the last episode) eun hyein
who i had just seen in rainbow romance
(the drama i cant seem to find anywhere to finish watching
that has lim eunkyeong from the doll master and
kim kibum and kim heechul from suju in it - god damn it i want to finish it)
does park soojin always play people you easily hate?


gumiho (as the name suggests) is a nine tailed fox
daewoong unknowingly frees her from being trapped in a painting
then falls down a slopey cliff type bit in the forest



the gumiho saves him by giving him her magical bead which heals him from the inside
and she starts following him around like a complete nutter
terrifying the crap out of him because he thinks she will eat him.

the two make a contract; in order for her to become human - which she longs for,
daewoong will hold onto her bead for 100 days and then give it back making her human
both unaware of the tragic consequences that would bring.



park dongjoo is a sort of demon hunter
he turns up (looking like a doll - it should be illegal for anyone
to be as beautiful as that man - i swear, its f*cking wrong. seriously)
at first just on the hunt for the gumiho, but 
on seeing miho (that is the name daewoong gives the gumiho)
and noticing her resemblance to the gumiho he regretably killed hundreds of years ago
he befriends her and tries to stop the past from repeating its fateful ways.




there is actually quite a lot to this series. it really picks up speed half way through.
well, maybe earlier, im kind of lost with time scale as i watched it all in big chunks.



daewoong starts off as a complete d*ckhead
but becomes beautiful and caring through his time with miho.
miho is continually innocent and adorable even when she goes all blue eyed psycho fox.
park dongjoo is cold and troubled by the past but comes to dote on miho
and attempts to guide her away from a destructive love for a human
only to find her love for daewoong grow in a way he could not have imagined.



everyone is lovely

...except for eun hyein. she was meant to be daewoong's girlfriend
but before they had a chance to get together miho comes on the scene.
(this next bit isnt really a spoiler though it may sound like one 
im not going to explain it all out but i have to just mention it a little)



her sour face only becomes likable right at the end in the last episode
which, i might add,
made me laugh a whole lot because who should turn up
while we're watching eun hyein acting like a dork finally
but everyone's favourite whiny little b*tch, ft island's lee honki!
awsome. it made that bit even funnier.
it was a "...aa! isnt that..? that's... ha! yeah it is him!" moment.
i mostly found it funny that he was called jeremy. i dont know why.
but at last i got to laugh at eun hyein. it was worth her being a kn*b all the way through.

there is a side story of daewoong's aunt and the film director
(daewoong is an actor making action movies under this guy)
getting together in a kind of absurd comical fashion.



all the negative stuff i heard about this series didnt realy make any sense when i watched it
it is 16 episodes in total and at the begining
i laughed for maybe 6 episodes straight then laughed mostly again for the middlde portion
but it gets a little more serious and sad at times, it picks up again and gets rediculous
then i spent the last five trying not to cry and failing completely
but it somehow managed not to leave me in floods of tears
but with a great big nisshi smile




thats how we like it.
the whole series was just how i like it really. lots of things to love.

miho's beautiful tails in the moonlight (which is why this post is blue not red)
park dongjoo lovingly smile at miho when she's being an idiot
the rediculous squabbling between miho and daewoong
the constant eating of cow   맛있다!!!!
neomo neomo neomo neomo neomo neomo jeongmal johahae



the soundtrack is great, im listening to it while writing this post.
there are two lee seungki songs on there which are his themes
*losing my mind* and *now i love you*
and two songs on there by shin mina which are her secondary themes
*i can give you everything* and *sha la la*
and no minwoo did his own theme too, called *trap*



there are about 7 songs by other artists on the soundtrack
including multiple versions of miho's main themes *fox rain* and *the person i love*.
i love that they do their own themes though. the music really suits each person
and it wraps it up into a lovely package. its kind of handy most korean actors sing aswell.
they do like to do the whole kit and caboodle.
i had to look up how to spell caboodle. jesus.
aparantly caboodle means a group of people. i didnt know that.



not only did i learn lots about the gumiho folklore
i also learnt about a stupid american army term
that i used without knowing where it actually came from. or how to spell it.

anyway im totally off track now.

what else can i say about gumiho.
its magical and beautiful. very very funny, tense, emotional.
definately a girlie one. but maybe not completely girlie. no, it is.
mainly romantic cheesey stupid gushy absurd comedy i think.



aish i really like shin mina so much now.
she is so great. i almost wonder if she has been a fox in a previous life.

i still think lee seungki is lovely.
i have another show of his somewhere to watch when i have time.
i also have another few series' with minwoo in - is he still going to look like a doll?
i cant quite get past it. it actually caused me to frown everytime he came on screen
as i think i was trying to work out if he could possibly be human with that face.
i just dont understand how a human could look like that. born air brushed.
koreans are using up all the beautiful genes while the rest of us have to look like trolls.
come on, give us a break!



ive completely fallen off track again.

well, even though its raining i should take my fox out for a walk.
he's going to have to wear his coat though. otherwise he'll soak my bed again.
he's actually outside on the porch sleeping in this f*cking weather. nutter.
i wish i could make him human so he could live longer with me.
but he doesnt have a gumiho bead. he may have a fox's tail but im pretty sure he is canine.
*sigh* im in country full of fat complacent ugly english people and
i cant be the same species and have the same life span as my best friend in the whole world.
im starting to get the feeling life aint fair until im queen of the universe.
gotta start working towards making that happen.

and i want a tail.

 

this post is topping the most viewed now, drop me a comment in the box below

[or click the link if the box isnt there] and let me know what you think of gumiho.

~

oresama おれさま [movie]

well, it's kinda cheesy, right? but its miyavi cheesy! (his words not mine)


ok, so would anyone understand this film if they didnt know who 雅miyavi is?
maybe not. it certainly wouldnt be appreciated the way 雅miyavi fans do anyway.



its pretty much just an excuse to watch chibi 雅miyavi looking beautiful but
acting like a complete spacktard. nothing new there.



雅miyavi (playing himself) is a famous rock star (this is the plot synopsis by the way
im not just spouting the obvious for no reason)
that gets thrown back in time to rediscover why he does what he does.
(leap about like a mental infront of thousands of people?)

it also stars takano hassei (rh plus)
and matsushima ryouta as the young 雅miyavi

its an adorable funny sweet film and yes, as 雅miyavi rightly said, its f*cking cheesy.




suddenly finding himself 10 years or whatever it is back in the past
after dozing off in the car, he finds some friends and
starts up a new band then bumps into his chibi self playing football
like he always used to. (he doesnt realise it is him for ages cos he stoopid)




its just the kind of movie you would expect 雅miyavi to make.
well, back then anyway. he was still pretty young
and weird - not that he's any less weird now but still.

it is based on real events of his childhood - the football bit not the timetravel
(although with 雅miyavi you never really know do you?)




if you like 雅miyavi you will understand what a great little movie it is.
if you dont, uh... why the hell dont you like 雅miyavi? what's wrong with you?
is your brain as broken as my laptop's cd drive?




life without 雅miyavi is grey and empty.
its not worth the pain over a mere broken brain. get it fixed dude.
and while youre at it - fix my cd drive aswell.

~